This is a blog to show off my wargaming toys, projects, and to discuss anything that I have a whim for at that time.
I am currently going back and making my print format larger and trying to make the pictures bigger to make it easier on the eyes. But you can always click on the pictures to see a larger image of it.
Enjoy!

A while back, I was discussing that I
was looking for rules to do battalion size actions (each stand is a
platoon) for the Falklands and was toying with the idea for Vietnam as
well. So, I started looking at various modern rules sets to do battalion actions. I think that
I will finally settle for either Cold War Commander or Tank Wreck for battalion actions. The
deciding factors is that I want something that is not complex for rules
and fast moving. I just do have the time or will be able to play the
rules enough to keep the rules well remembered and not have to refer
back to the rules regularly during a game.

But while looking at
the different rules, I started to look at ground & time scale for
figuring out when I start laying out maps and noticed some interesting
things that might be of interest to others. So below is a break down of
various modern or Vietnam rules for general information about scales. I
know that there more out there (like Force on Force) but these are the
only ones that I really looked into or own.

I laid out the
following information, if known, in this order for each rule set: Name
of system and company / ideal level of command for a player / ground
scale by ratio / time scale per turn / movement speed for infantry in
perfect conditions / range for small arms fire / other notes

Chain of Command,
Too Fat Lardies / Squad - Platoon / 1:120 / I have no additional
information as it has not yet been released. It is a new set of WWII
rules, but should be adaptable to Cold War period and I plan to buy it
when it is released

Charlie Company, RAFM / Squad-Platoon / 1:72 /
I have since misplaced this rules set when I started boxing up my
bedroom to be painted, but will update this when I find it back

Cold
War Commander, Specialist Military Publishing (Squad level) / Company /
1:1000 / 30 minutes / 0.2 km/h+ (0.1 mph+) / 300m / (Platoon level) /
Battalion / 1:2000 / 30 minutes / 0.4 km/h+ (0.2 mph+) / 600m / The
movement rates is given for each successful order given to the infantry
stand, so if a stand successful gets four command orders on one turn and
they moved for four orders, then times their movement rate by four for
figuring out their speed. Personally, I think that there is a mistake
on the time scale. Two scales are given in the game system

Men of Company B, Peter Pig / Company / No scales are really given, built into a square grid system.

Micro
Armour (R) The Game - Modern, GHQ / Battalion / 1:3600 / 3 minutes /
7.3 km/h (4.5 mph) / 457m / They have a Vietnam supplement which also
provides an alternative scale for some scenarios. There is also a free
introductory version available that is suppose to rules lite

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Well, here I am back in South Carolina with a new
project for work. Once again, my hours will be at a minimum, 12 hours a
day,twelve days on, two days off, for the next five to six months. So,
it looks like little if any progress in gaming, except by commissioning
others to do work for me. I really hate my career choice. Another
three to five years and I am out, if I don't snap first.

Anyways, the Falklands' solitaire game,
"Where There Is Discord" (see my entry on it) had its release date push
back about another three months. But I am OK with that as they decided
to release their WWII Operation Sealion solitaire game, "Codeword
Cromwell" at the same time. So I went ahead and pre-order that as
well.

Speaking of solitaire board games, I have a few that I will try to review later on this blog. I have been picking up solitaire games
for a while because I do tend to be alone more times than not. I still
prefer game with my friends, but it is nice to be able to do a game
when it is not possible to game with them.

Most of my solitaire
games are the "pick your own ending" type books or RPG scenarios, but i
have some board games. However, with computer games, both of these
type of solitaire games have greatly vanished over the years. I have
never been thrilled with computer games, I don't why, but I just don't
care for them. That is not to say that I have a couple of favorites
that play every so often, but I rarely get one computer game in a year!

Finally, if all goes well, I will be trying to do my Charlie Don't Surf game again in the first part of May. Fingers crossed!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

I thought I should post these today because for the rest of today and the next five or six days, I will be traveling and be pretty busy. After that, it will take me probably another week to get settled down to post anything new.

Here are three photos I staged over the weekend for a little inspiration of my 'Anarchy'
project. I so need to get my boards done so I can retake these pictures
in a more suitable surrounding. I also have a lead on where I can buy OO scale loose bricks to litter my streets!

Power to the People!

Sapper

Preparing to enforce the Riot Act

Hold the Line!

The Thin Red Line meets the Power of the People

Finally, a sneak peek at next year's project... "I remember a time of chaos. Ruined dreams. This wasted
land. But most of all, I remember The Road Warrior."

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Well, good news finally! My
latest batch of miniatures arrived from Northumbrian Painting Services
(NPS) before the weekend, so I got to check them out Sunday after I got
back from Recruits. I am pleased with them again! Most of figures are
geared towards my 'Anarchy in the UK', but also many can double duty for
the Falklands.

First group of pictures are some more Argentine
soldiers for the Falklands. The .50 caliber HMG team is from
Liberation. The gunner and loader are actually from their Israeli line
where I sand down the helmets. The third figure, the rifleman, is from
the African government troops with helmets because at that time I sent
these off, I had not bought the figures from the Liberation's Argentine
line, which I believe is still missing the HMG team. The photo is more
infantrymen from the old Hotspur line. The reason that they were not
with the last batch of Argentine figures is the the arm with the rifle
is castseparately and I misplaced them. Since then, I found them and
got them in this batch. The one figure in camouflage is for Army
Commando group.

Argentine HMG team

Argentine infantry

The next several photos are for the British
army. Most are Liberation, but there are some Hotspurs, Britannia, and
Elhiem figures which I am going label under the photo if they are not Liberation's. You maybe
wondering why so many British army figures? There are several reasons,
1) I decided to up my total force to a full company for good size
Falklands games and Anarchy games; 2) some of them are wearing Para
helmets and others are wearing the type '44 helmet which can be seen in
the first picture below, and finally; 3) as part of the 'Anarchy' games, there
will be a civil war with British soldiers on both sides, so I need a
little more than a company size. Plus, eventually, some figures will
get arm bands painted on to represent different factions for the
'Anarchy' games. I am only going to this to some leaders and support teams so the infantry can be used for both sides and reducing the number of
figures needed.

To help protect the crown from evil doers are two
agents from CI5, Brodie and Doyle. Both figures are from Elhiem.
Also, not shown in the picture, are both of their cars that I have got from Oxford Diecast. Now I just need a bunch of empty
cardboard boxes to scatter on the board.

The Professionals: Doyle and Brodie

Next is the first of a few
batches of civilians, gangsters, and rioters. Most are old Hotspurs,
but three of them are from the Elhiem's zombie line's survivors. I forgot to get a picture of the Elhiem's survivors for this blog entry.

Civilians

Hotspur's Rioters and thugs

Finally,
the last photo is British soldiers in riot formation from Eureka. NPS
was kind enough to make the shields for as well.

Eureka's British army in riot gear

I got my next
batch just about ready to put in the mail after a quick write up for the
painting details and make sure that I have enough pennies for basing.
The main group for this next batch will be Elhiem's zombies. I am going to
get all of them done at the same time and be done with them. The
others will include more civilians and rioters from Hotspur; armed
civilians from Liberation, Platoon 20, and Elhiem; another group of riot
troops in DPM; more British army troops; a squad of US troops from
Liberation's Vietnam line with M14's / M60 & flak vest to be used as
either USMC riflemen for the US Embassy for 'Anarchy' or National
Guardsmen for 'Dark Days in America'; and finally, a four person news
team from Liberation. While the news team is modern, they look
relatively retro that will not stick out too bad. Now, after my big move this weekend from GA to SC, I need to get back to making terrain for 'Anarchy'.

This Whimsical Wednesday is not any funny pictures, videos, or stories. Since whimsical can mean, "acting or behaving in a capricious manner", it does not necessary need to be funny. So I am giving you a video of Pink Floyd's "Echoes" synchronized with the ending of one of my all time favorite movies, '2001: A Space Odyssey.' A fair warning, the video is just under 25 minutes long. It is well worth it if you are Pink Floyd fan or a 2001 fan. So sit back, open it up in YouTube, maximize the screen, and crank up the volume...then take a trip through space and the mind.

Well, I am
back from the spring Recruits convention in Lee Summit, MO, and sad to say that
this might be the last one.Dwayne who
was the driving force behind the scenes has decided to retire after doing an
excellent job of putting on two Recruits conventions a year for all of the 12
years.There was a meeting held in the
late afternoon about the future of Recruits, but I was not able to attended to
say if there was any takers for the job.Even if some did step up and said that they will run the conventions, we
will have to wait and see if they really do follow through.I hope they do as it is a nice little
convention.

One thing
that you will notice is the small number of pictures taken of the convention by
me (actually below is ALL of the pictures.)Long story as short as I can get it,
I forgot my camera and left it in Georgia.Plus, half of the pictures I took with my cell phone where so blurry
that I deleted them. Also somehow, I took a 30 minute video of the inside of my pocket which killed
the battery.Luckily, I had my cords to
recharge the phone, but I was without it for almost most of the day.

Anyway,
Steve H., Dave S., and I rode up Saturday really early in the morning from St
Louis and arrived to sign in before the first gaming secession.Curtis T. and Alan rode up the night before
and played in a game Friday night and met us for breakfast.We stayed for the first & second
secessions, but Curtis and Allen stayed for the third.I did not get in a game for the first
secession, but got in a couple of pick-up games of ‘Love Letters’ card game
with the AEG’s rep, whom I have personally known for over 20 years.While the subject matter is different for my
usual gaming taste, it is a very smooth and well thought out game and quite
enjoyable.It is part of a trilogy of
games put out by AEG that revolves around a Renaissance court using the same
city, characters, and story arc.

The
afternoon secession, the five of us played in a WWII East Front game using 15mm
figures, called The “First Tank Battle: Olita!”It was an interesting game; however there were too many gamers in
it.So the game sort of dragged on with
too much idle time, but that cannot be blamed on the GM.He even stated that he was not expecting that
many players, but didn’t want to seem rude by turning some away.

The one game that really got my attention was "Blunder at Turtle Creek", a French & Indian War game. It is the second picture down. The reason that it really got my attention is that the figures that the game master is using are limited edition collector's pieces from John Jenkins Designs. The figures normally go for $20-$30 each when they are first release and only go up in value as they go out of print! You are looking at about $1200+ in figures just in that picture alone and that is not counting the ones outside of the picture! He is a braver man than I am.

Before
showing the pictures, on Sunday, I was able to inventory another book case and
a half, move several items around so next weekend when I am back at home; I can
paint another large section on my bedroom.I am getting closer and closer to being finished, yea!

Sapper

A generic photo of the con

Blunder at Turtle Creek

Down on the Farm - 1970's Rhodesia

Battle of the Bugle

Battle of the Bugle

Assault on Station Zwei - Dust Warfare Demo

War of the Roses - Battle of Bosworth

The Thin Line in the Fulda Gap

A game that I didn't get the name of, but that I really like the board

Another game that I did not get the name for but I also like the board